During operation of a disk drive system, an actuator mechanism can move a magnetic transducer (or head) to a desired radial position on the surface of a rotating disk where the transducer electromagnetically reads or writes data. The head can be supported on a body of material referred to as a “slider.” A slider can mechanically support the head and any electrical connections between the head and the rest of the disk drive system. The slider can be aerodynamically shaped to glide over moving air and to maintain a uniform distance from the surface of the rotating disk, thereby preventing the head from undesirably contacting the disk.
A slider can be formed with an aerodynamic pattern of protrusions (air bearing pattern) on the air bearing surface (ABS) which enables the slider to fly at a constant height close to the disk during operation of the disk drive. An air bearing slider can be designed to “fly” a slider as closely as possible to a magnetic medium while avoiding physical impact with the medium.
In manufacturing such read/write heads, a large number of sliders (e.g., tens of thousands of sliders) can be fabricated from a single wafer having rows and columns of the magnetic transducers deposited on the wafer surface using semiconductor-type process methods. The ABS can be formed by coating the slider surface with a thick layer of protective photoresist, imaging the photoresist with radiation; development of the ABS image in the photoresist and dry etching (transferring) the ABS image into the body of the slider. After the ABS has been formed, the remaining photoresist can be removed by solvent or plasma ash.
There is a continuing need to find new and improved methods for forming an air bearing surface (ABS) of a slider.